A timely intervention from global popular perspectives to decenter the discussion on socio-technical futures.

Technologies and technological futures are always socially situated, relational, and enmeshed in (dominant) narratives of societal sense-making, which have the power to bring future ideas into material existence. The issue brings together articles exploring popular techno-futures from international and interdisciplinary perspectives, including cultural and media studies, science and technology studies, and related disciplines. The contributors decenter the discussion on socio-technical futures and the role of popular culture, aesthetics and media in their (re)production by focusing on societal tech-future discourses from global popular perspectives.

Autorentext

Jascha Bareis is a political scientist whose passion lies at the crossroads of academic AI research, political communication and future studies. He holds a Dr. phil. from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and is a senior researcher at Universität Freiburg. He analyzes and comments on the politics of hype, AI, tech oligarchy, and the field of autonomous weapons. Other fields of expertise include technology assessment, trust and technology and democratic theory.